Liam Jurrah training with Port Adelaide. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: adelaidenow
THERE is growing speculation Port Adelaide will adopt a no-risk policy and overlook Liam Jurrah at Tuesday's AFL drafts.
The Power last night delayed making a decision on the troubled former Melbourne forward's future until Monday, saying "we want to watch him and our other train-on players have one final session with us before drawing any conclusions".
But it is understood Port - which had intended to make a call on Jurrah yesterday - is not sold on the value of the high-flying excitement machine, despite fans calling for him to be signed.
There also is speculation Jurrah arrived late to one of the Power's training sessions this week, disappointing club officials who had put strict guidelines on his recruitment.
Football operations manager Peter Rohde denied this, saying Jurrah had "ticked all the boxes".
But he admitted the club was torn over whether to throw the freakishly-skilled Jurrah an AFL lifeline.
"It's a tough decision for us, no doubt," Rohde said.
"As we've said before, Liam's talent is unquestioned. It's other things we have to weigh up. There are off-field issues and he's had a couple of serious injuries, so we'll work through all of that.
"We're in the process of doing that now and and we'll make a decision at our final (draft) meeting on Monday."
Jurrah, 24, kicked an impressive 81 goals in 36 games for the Demons before walking out on the club in August.
He is due to face an Alice Springs court hearing in March after being charged with aggravated assault and unlawfully causing serious harm over an altercation in March this year.
Former Port star Warren Tredrea has declared Jurrah isn't worth the risk, saying while the high-flier is talented he could have a detrimental effect on a young playing group.
The Power already has committed to taking ace SA teenager Sam Colquhoun, from Central District, with its sole pre-season draft selection (No. 3) on Tuesday.
Only GWS and the Western Bulldogs pick before Port and they have indicated they will take other players.
Rohde said Port would look at a mature-age player and a young player with its two remaining rookie-list picks.
The Power has eight unlisted players still training with it - Jurrah, Colquhoun, Norwood's Jaryd Cachia and the Port Magpies' Sam Gray, Kory Beard, Justin Hoskin, Aseri Raikiwasa and Sean Lemmens.
"You get players out to train with you because you've got some interest in them and want to have a look but you don't just want to limit yourself to those players you have train with you. We'll look at others too," Port recruiting manager Geoff Parker said.
As few as 20 untried players could be given AFL opportunities at the pre-season and rookie drafts because clubs have been forced to cut their rookie lists from six to four this year and several have committed to re-drafting players they have already cut.
The AFL yesterday announced 11 clubs were in position to participate in the pre-season draft but there could be as few as seven selections.
Premier Sydney must wait until pick 11 to take former Crow Kurt Tippett, who has priced himself out of being taken by another club by putting a $900,000-a-year price tag on his head.
Adelaide has committed to re-drafting Woodville-West Torrens midfielder Nick Joyce with its pre-season pick.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Port set to pass on Liam Jurrah
Dengan url
http://ketancoklat.blogspot.com/2012/12/port-set-to-pass-on-liam-jurrah.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Port set to pass on Liam Jurrah
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Port set to pass on Liam Jurrah
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar